Americans Pessimistic About Retirement Saving

Even though the U.S. is experiencing a
nearly eight-year strong bull market, which has seen financial markets climb in
value by more than 300%, a large portion of investors worry about saving enough
for retirement. That’s the conclusion drawn from a recent survey by Spectrem
Group.

The firm’s study “Financial Behaviors and the Participant’s
Mindset” found that 43% of respondents say they expect to have less than
$500,000 saved for retirement. Only 20% think they’ll put away $1 million to $2 million, and just 5% think they’ll have more than $5
million saved.

The majority of Millennials, however, are confident about their potential nest eggs. The survey found that more than half (60%) anticipate saving between
$500,000 and $1 million.

The reasons why participants are generally pessimistic
about retirement savings are varied. Such reasons range from concerns over short-term
market volatility and current tax pressure to increasing
health care costs. The firm found that 71% of respondents believe
they pay too much in taxes. And while 75% think wealthier citizens
should have the larger tax burden, 46% say they would like to see a flat tax
rate levied on all citizens.

Managing health care costs in the future, however, seems to
be the biggest obstacle to retirement saving. More than half (74%) believe this
is a major issue.

To address that issue, plan sponsors and providers have been turning
to integrating retirement planning and health care planning by utilizing
different resources such as health savings accounts (HSAs).

Plan participants concerned about health care costs also
worry about depleting their retirement savings. Less than half (48%) worry
about paying too much in taxes or spending too much once they retire, the report says.

Information about downloading the full report can be found
on Spectrem.com.